Bernadette Soubirous was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes,
France, and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. Bernadette was the
daughter of François Soubirous, a miller, and Louise (née Casteròt), a
laundress. She was the eldest of nine children. Bernadette was baptized at the
local parish church and her family lived in extreme poverty. Bernadette
contracted cholera as a toddler and suffered severe asthma for the rest of her
life.

Her series of daily visions embarrassed her family but she persevered and was
eventually believed she saw the Virgin Mary. She described the lady as wearing a
white veil, a blue girdle and with a yellow rose on each foot — compatible
with
"a description of any statue of the Virgin in a village church."

Bernadette's story caused a sensation with the townspeople, who were divided in
their opinions on whether or not Bernadette was telling the truth. Some believed
her to have a mental illness and demanded she be put in an asylum.

Saint Barbara lived and suffered during the re
ign of the emperor Maximian (305-311). Her father Dioscorus, beat her
mercilessly after she told him her belief in the Triune God, and then placed her
under guard and tried to wear her down with hunger. Saint Barbara lived and
suffered during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-311). Her father
Dioscorus, beat her mercilessly after she told him her belief in the Triune God,
and then placed her under guard and tried to wear her down with hunger. Finally
he handed her over to the prefect of the city, named Martianus. They beat St.
Barbara fiercely, striking her with rawhide, and rubbing her wounds with a hair
cloth to increase her pain.

By night, St. Barbara prayed fervently to her Heavenly Bridegroom, and the
Savior Himself appeared and healed her wounds. Then they subjected the saint to
new, and even more frightful torments, eventually beheading her.

Both torturers, Martianus and Dioscorus, were killed after being struck by
lightning.
-from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa from the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria,
Rome was designed and completed
by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a leading sculptor of his day.

The swooning nun and the angel with the spear derive from an episode described
by Teresa of Avila, a mystical cloistered Discalced Carmelite reformer and nun,
in her autobiography,
‘The Life of Teresa of Jesus’ (1515–1582).

“I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed
to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my
heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw
them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God."